Database Akten West-Vlaanderen

Minutes of the meeting of the volunteers on February 27, 2012.

It is tradition that the volunteers of the State Archives in Bruges organize an annual meeting at the State Archives of Bruges. This year, Mrs Nicole Cornille, the coordinator of the volunteers, choose this year a sweeter location op februari 27: about 55 volunteers gattered at the Chocalte Museum in Bruges.
The much apreciated and tastefull visit was followed by a reunion in 'Kopje Troost', a coffeebar in the buiding of the 'Familiezorg West-Vlaanderen' (a social association forfamily help for West-Flanders), which uses a lot of volunteers to help people in need.
The group also invited the staff of the State Archives of Bruges as a sign of thanks for the reception and collaboration. Jean-Piere Lecluyse and Maurice Vandermaesen, who are going to retire in a near future, were celebrated.
Finally, a picture of the group was made on the steps of the State Archives. This will be a memory of their farewell of the old building. At the end of the year, the State Archive will move to their new location at the Predikherenrei.

The State Archives of Belgium has, besides the preservation of the archives, also the task to make it accessible.

In 1999, the State Archives in Bruges launched an ambitious volunteer project: it would process all West-Flemish marriage certificates from the French period until 1900 in a large data base on a computer, available to all genealogists and researchers. They would no longer be obliged to spend hours on searching in microfilms for the one missing document, but rather have much more time for real research.

• Parish registers:
  
  • 1,150,000 Baptisms.
  • 340,000 Marriages.
  • 750,000 Funerals.
  • 50,000 Orphan Deeds and 50,000 Orphan accounts
• Civil Status:
  • More than 660,000 Births.
  • Nearly 400,000 Marriages.
  • 500,000 Deaths.
• And many more ..

All this data is now free available online

Nowadays, it's even much more than the handful of volunteers of the early period: the number of people exceeded well above the hundred. Elsewhere in the country have started similar projects.

In May 2006 we went for the first time life online with our data. Every day, the website is being consulted a few thousand times both by compatriots as distant descendants in 135 countries. Since early 2008 we had over 1 million visitors and more than 15 million pagies or an average of 15 pages per visitor.

At present around 80 volunteers are stillworking on the project. In recent years, many more have temporarily been working wit hus, but have been succeeded by new ones.

Meanwhile, the State Archives has its own website with a database which includes ours: State Archiives of Belgium.

We still continue to work on other type of certificates such as Orphan Deeds, Census, Processes, etc with further additions which should allow the researcher to prepare his visit.

Not only the personal research goes infinitely faster than before, but one finds every day that also other researchers are finding results which one previously could only dream of. Many universities have used our data for their scientific research.

The future.

The microfilms, and in some cases the original documents'of the Archives, are being digitized and will then (in a much better quality than on microfilm) be consulted on a screen. Soon or later, all the certificates in all States Archives will be available. Meanwhile, our data is updated using this digital medium and additions / corrections. So many gaps are being eliminated because the certificates are much easier and faster to read. In an early stage our first certificates were based on old indexes but are being reworked.

Want to participate?

Even though the group has grown, it has remained a volunteer project remaining without tight structures, no president, no association and with the fewest number of rules. This group is still being coordinated by Mrs. Nicole Cornille.

See contact.

The new 'Archives Building'.

More info:

• Regie der Gebouwen / Regie des Bâtiments:
  • State Archives in Bruges
  • Laying of the first stone
• Click here for the movie about the building.
  Source: multimedia.brugge.be/general Rijksarchief.wmv.
  
• Follow the progress of work at Skyscrapercity.

Database Akten West-Vlaanderen

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